Justified: "Bloody Harlan"

Season 2, Episode 13

A fantastic end to a fantastic season

“There’s a goddamn war going on, anybody tell you that?”

-Doyle

This season of Justified has been for organic in its plot development, and it has kind of thrown me for a loop. Though the problems that Raylan has had to face over the past thirteen episode have risen and fallen, and weaved in and out of another in a way that is quite true to real life, it’s also something that’s very counterintuitive to the way we are used to watching television. In a mold that dates back at least as far as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The X-Files, a good portion of a season of a serialized series – especially genre series – have set up one “Big Bad” in the early part of the season, and have the character fight (or figure out how to fight) the villain, eventually besting him in the last or next-to-last episode. And even though it’s a bit old hat at this point, when used effectively – say Terriers, Sons of Anarchy’s second season, and even Justified’s first – this approach can be very, very good.

Yet Justified went its own way, and the results have been very surprising to say the least. The season has been very good, I’ll give it that, and by keeping the eventual endgame a hazy mystery, the show has gotten a lot of mileage out of keeping us on our toes about what’s coming next, up to and including the finale. Yet by not giving us what we want/expect, the show runs the risk of turning us off to what’s in front of us. For example, I, like most people, was expecting a very exciting, very tense, very bloody finale (it’s called “Bloody Harlan for cripes sakes), yet what we got was a very subtle, almost subdued (yet still tense) hour, quite similar in style to last week's outing, and it threw me a little bit. But in the end I don’t mind, because it was also very, very good, and much better than anything I was expecting.

“I will see this thing through. I owe daddy that much.”

-Loretta

In all honesty, I thought we were done with Loretta, with appearance last week serving as a kind of epilogue to her story, and a sad one at that. Turns out, it was only a reminder of her presence, an omen of sorts of what was to come.

In all honesty, her storyline shouldn’t have worked. The “kid who turns bad, thus reminding the adults of their own faults” is such a trope in popular culture, and one that the show should be ashamed for going back to that well. Yet it did work, not only because the show made sure that we didn’t see it coming – at least at not until tonight – but because it was couched in so much about what we know of these character. Yes, contrasting Loretta’s hate for Mags with Mags’ love for the girl made for one of the best standoffs I have ever seen. But the more powerful parallel at work here was that of Raylan. Though the child-as-mirror device is usually used to signal the child actions representing a different “bad” action from the adults, here it was a straight transplant. The through line for the series so far has been Raylan’s slow realization that violence isn’t always the answer (okay, it’s more subtle than that, but I’m writing this at midnight, so I’m allowed a little leeway here) and nothing seems to awaken that realization more than seeing Loretta act out his own childhood, right down to the quick resolve to use guns as a means to a quick end. It was a fantastic bit of acting from both Timothy Olyphant and Kaitlyn Dever, and I hope that Loretta can return next season and unintentionally create even more hell for Raylan.

“Better that we talk things out now rather that shoot them up later.”

-Boyd

But what about Boyd? At the start of the season, with the way the show was highlighting Boyd’s new life, it seemed fairly obvious that he was destined to rise from his ashes once more. Yet the more and more that I think about it, the more likely it seems that the show was just setting up Boyd this season, so that he might come back next season and kick some serious as. (Also, the more I think about it, the more convinced I become that the show made up this season on the fly, just like Breaking Bad did in season three.) In fact, it’s kind of surprising that Boyd didn’t do a whole lot tonight besides parlay with Mags, cry over Ava, and fail to kill Dickie.

But I believe that’s the point. The show has been trying all season to spark a discussion about Boyd’s fate, whether he was destined to return to his criminal ways, or to rise above it. Yet the answer seems to be neither. He has the mind and disposition of a crime lord, to be sure, but he doesn’t have the moral code of one. Unlike Bo, Boyd is capable of caring for someone, and he puts his love for Ava ahead of his own plans when he goes to kill Dickie. And, even more startlingly, he still seems to hold some respect for Raylan the lawman.  

Given that the show couldn’t have known at the time that they would be renewed for a third season, it was a bold decision to make, but here in hindsight it looks brilliant. The first season ended on a single note, with Boyd running after the drug runners, and that left a lot of messy cleanup for the writers at the start of this one, and the first ten minutes of the premiere was handed over to resolving that plotline. But now the show has an automatic in for next season, as it can just roll right on into Boyd the criminal mastermind, who has cops on the take. And if it can hit the ground running next year, who knows all of the places it will be able to take us?

“We both know you will want more. And we both know that when that day comes you will take more.”

-Mags

Ultimately Boyd and Mags make great foils for one another. Like Boyd, she is both caring and conniving, yet is her criminal side that seems to rule over her emotions. Though she too metes out justice on behalf of her loved ones, she is also calculating enough to know when to drop back and save the effort for a more important battle.  

Or, like she did tonight, she knows when to take herself out for the greater good. Mags may let her morality fall prey to her greed, yet her moral code is far more powerful than Boyd’s; he would never take his own life for the sake of people he didn’t like. Yes, Mags offing herself was a bit contrived, and yes I might have seen it coming (I predicted it was likely to happen, but the show also left a few other options on the table up until the end so I could never be certain), but it was a great closing moment, both for Margo Martindale and for the show. The message is clear: One way or another, Harlan County will eventually take your soul, whether through coercion or sheer force.

“Yeah, I want you to leave this alone. I want you to leave this to the authorities. It’s not your problem, Raylan.”

-Winona

I still don’t believe that Raylan will end up at GlenCo. Or at least, I don’t think he’ll stay there. As I stated back in my review of “Debts and Accounts,” the show kind of hinges on him staying in Harlan.  But why he ends up staying will be a really important question for the character, and one that will most likely take center stage next season. His boss can’t stand working with him. He finally has a child with the woman he married. And despite his affinity for some of his coworkers, he hates being in Harlan County. But he also has a grand sense of justice, a compulsive need to do the right thing, no matter how much it may destroy his life.

But does that life have to include Winona? That seems to be the sticking point really. They love each other, and they’ve got chemistry, but they also drive each other insane. (Strong willed people tend to do that to one another.) The show certainly doesn’t seem to think that they should stay together, and that bugs me tonight. Not only was Winona in Total Selfish Bitch mode, my least favorite and the most misogynistic side of her, which all ready bugs me to no end, but it also seem that they are destined to break up when Raylan stays in Harlan County to clean up the latest mess. And that makes me wonder: Why the hell did we sit through all that relationship shit then?

But that’s just a small quibble. Tonight was a great closer to a great season, and the next season can’t get here fast enough. Justified, you have officially entered the pantheon of great television. No don’t go screwing it up.

Quotes, Etc.:

“I’m not staying in that cellar. It smells like moldy death down there.”

“Go back to the part about you reading.”

“I don’t know whether to shoot him now, or let him have a couple of more swings and then kill him.” “I vote the first one.”

“You all right?” “You shot at me!”

“You dumbass peckerwoods understand English? On the ground, hillbillies!”